The Hearing Impaired Girl’s Guide to Fall Television

Below is my completely biased list of television shows you should be watching and if you aren’t, I will have no choice but to judge you completely and make comments. This list was based on a very scientific survey based on my own opinions and no one else’s so there is that but I did take a scientific survey once in college so therefore I have a lot of experience with scientific surveys.

Also, before we begin, these are not really new shows but they are shows that you need to tune to watch when you aren’t watching Scandal or The Walking Dead.

1. Web Therapy

The only kind of therapy one needs…unless you actually, need therapy then I wouldn’t recommend it. This completely improvised show is nothing short of brilliant. It stars Lisa Kudrow as Fiona Wallice, the worst therapist ever. She only holds three minute sessions online so she does not have to deal with feelings and emotions and every session is completely self serving. It is such a simple premise, yet it is continuously hilarious. It is completely improvised and fun to watch. The list of guest stars has also been impressive. Meryl Streep was a gay conversion therapist. Lily Tomlin plays Fiona’s mother and this season, Jon Hamm plays a sex phone operator for the geriatric and Gwyneth Paltrow plays a mediation specialist with anger issues. Paltrow’s role actually makes me a fan of her’s, she seems to be making fun of the image everyone has of her and it is hilarious. Every season also seems to bring a reunion with one of her former Friends co-stars because let’s be honest, this is the closest we’re getting to a Friends reunion. This season it’s Matthew Perry, leaving Jennifer Aniston as the lone cast member who hasn’t done it yet but reports are saying she wants to do it.

2. Nashville

Soapy, fun, drama that makes anyone believe they could just go on over to Nashville and become a country star practically overnight. Connie Britton and Hayden Panettierre star as country singers and there is a surrounding cast of characters that make up this crazy world where everything is dramatic and everyone has an amazing singing voice. People stab each other in the back, sometimes literally and the stories are constantly changing. One character has a mental breakdown, now she’s song writer. There’s the secretly gay cowboy who is married to a girl who was on a singing competition and now she knows that he’s gay but can’t say anything. Did you follow that? Panettierre’s real life pregnancy is also being worked into the show. Her character has an unplanned pregnancy. It’s one thing after the other and it’s a crazy world and it’s all set to a country song soundtrack.

3. The Comeback

Another Lisa Kudrow show that is truly astonishing to me. I had not watched it when it first aired nine years ago. It had been canceled after one season and yet, it’s back. A comeback. It’s almost like they did it on purpose. She’s gotten a second take. This stars Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish. Valerie is a has-been sitcom actress trying to make her way back to the spotlight by doing a reality show. It almost reminds me of Curb Your Enthusiasm but with a female lead. It’s uncomfortable to watch at times, but you feel for her, feel for how oblivious she is. Lisa Kudrow once said that she loves playing characters that don’t realize how they’re coming across and between Phoebe Buffay, Valerie Cherish and Fiona Wallice, she has definitely found her niche.

4. Parenthood

I am convinced that the producers and writers of Parenthood have a giant book called, “Big Book of Awful Things” and go through it one by one. Cancer. Check. Bullying. Check. Divorce. Check. Unexpected Pregnancies. Check. Now, in its final season we have financial strife and I’ve read that someone is going to die so it’s looking to be a very uplifting final season. It won’t stop me from watching, from reaching for this tissues and following the never-ending saga of the Braverman clan. The acting, the writing, everything about it feels real. Sad, yet real.

5. Modern Family

It’s been on forever yet I still love it and this season is even more amusing. What I love are shows where the chemistry among the actors comes through the screen, when you can tell that the actors truly just enjoy each other. I am convinced that’s one of the reasons that Friends was so endearing. There’s been drama behind the scenes, most recently with Sarah Hyland whom I once saw at a Sharkey’s in Sherman Oaks but she didn’t say anything when I annoyingly asked if she was Sarah Hyland. There’s a change in Hyland’s performance this season, it’s coming across as vulnerable which I think is perfect for that character this season. I love the relationships between the family members, watching the kids grow which lends itself to even more funny moments. If you’ve given up on Modern Family, tune back in. It’s their best season yet.

Those are the shows….they may not be new but they are the best. The funniest. The most gripping. They are the shows you should not miss.